Cherwell Enrichment Finland Trip:- Page 18

Students developed their independence, group work, initiative and planning skills, crossing central London by foot in a geocaching challenge - before walking even further in a night walk tour after dinner.

Ella, 16, said: “I’ve surprised myself this trip with the amount of patience I’ve had when I’ve been around people 24/7 and I don’t have my usual spaces. There was so much to do that I wasn’t on my phone the whole time and I actually paid attention to all the new things around me!”.

Students toured two London museums, exploring the collections of the Wellcome Collection and the British Library. Each student selected one object to share in a ‘balloon debate’, with Emma ultimately triumphing with her defence of a Japanese silver memento mori figurine, used to remind people of the transience of life and material luxury, principles the students felt captured the ethos of their adventure trip and travels.

The preparation London trip was made possible by the generous donations of the Friends of Cherwell, including local business Scale Coach. The Turing Scheme grant covers basic cost of living, travel and accommodation but it does not include trip activities. In order to give students unforgettable experiences unique to Finland and Estonia - such as lake swimming, aurorae hunting and sampling traditional food - the group are seeking sponsorship and donations from individuals and businesses (contact: cricher@cherwellschool.org).

Miss Richer, Academic Enrichment Coordinator and English teacher said: “We are thrilled that the students embraced our London trip so enthusiastically and with such determination. We know that they will be brilliant ambassadors for Cherwell and UK schools when they reach Helsinki, Rovaniemi and Tallinn next month and that it will be an enriching experience for everyone involved - students and staff!”

By Miss Richer, Academic Enrichment Coordinator and English teacher

After a break due to the Covid pandemic, the 2022 edition of our annual Festival of Reading has been the grandest ever. It’s theme was inspired by environmental activist Greta Thunberg’s famous speech, ‘Our House Is On Fire’. These words resonated with the Book Club members in several ways, inspiring questions such as: if our house is on fire, what are we ready to do to save what means a lot to us? And what would we save, in particular? What would we change, instead? The books we chose to discuss during the library lessons provided possible answers to these questions. The protagonists embrace radical changes or take radical decisions to protect the things or the people they love, or to transform their home (be it their country, their family or their community) into a more welcoming and inclusive one. Three of these books have now been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, don’t we have an eye for good books?!

The book club addressed all the authors involved in the Festival asking: While writing a book, have you ever

felt that you were leaving your comfort zone? What

was it like and what did you do about it? We received wonderful responses, which you can read in our South Site library blog, The Library Tales: https://

thelibrarytales.wordpress.com/2022/03/28/writersout-of-their-comfort-zone/

There are two things of which I am particularly proud about this Festival: it involved North Site as well as South and there was something for everyone! We hosted three amazing authors: Lucy Atkins, Sam Pope and Eve Chase. Each of these encounters were absolutely inspiring and we are so thankful to these writers.

We discussed books, dressed up as our favourite book characters, learned how to make beautiful crafts, enjoyed tea parties in the library, had a go at illustration, blackout poetry and listened to live music, played by both South and North Site students!

Music - South Site Staff - North Site Music - North Site

Staff - South Site

We hosted Daunt Books for a Book Fair, we sent books and messages on bookmarks to our friends (and members of staff!) through the library and won gifts and books.

‘I’ll miss coming to the library every day to see what’s on! Can’t we have the Festival of Reading all year long?’ A Year 7 student

Craft making

Staff and Students dressed up as their favourite book characters

“I got a badge from the library for exchanging a book which really brightened my day.” A Year 11 student.

Year 9 students were asked to imagine that a library containing all the stories in the world was on fire, but that they had the possibility to save a single story from destruction. Which one would they save? There were students who saved stories contained in books, in songs and movies, others saved stories from their own life experiences, or the lives of family members. The result is a wonderful collection, the Library of Saved Stories, and it will soon be available for everybody to browse.

Year 7s and 8s have started a Reading Marathon called Readathon. Promoted by the charity Read for Good, Readathon is a way to raise money for the children in UK hospitals while reading. It’s all about setting up a reading challenge, identifying a sponsor among family members and friends and starting raising! The Cherwell School has run Readathon for years now and with exceptionally good results! Please bring back your sponsor cards when we are back from the Easter holidays, on 25th April. Thank you to all the readers who are taking part in this!

Dr Bonsaver

A New Fiction Library For North Site!

Last December our brand new North Site Fiction Library finally opened. It is a beautiful, quiet and inspiring place, with wooden bookcases, comfortable armchairs and a vast collection of books. We needed a place such as this, to enable us to welcome readers and nourish a true love for literature on North Site.

It used to be an art room, and it has been transformed into a library thanks to a collective effort involving Mr Price, the English Department and the Premises Team. However, nothing would have been possible without the financial support and the determination of the Friends of Cherwell. We are immensely thankful for their generosity and their constant support for several projects that have been having a strong impact on our students’ school experience. The new fiction library is certainly among these.

Every day there are students spending their time in the new library, reading or simply browsing the shelves and borrowing books. Small groups of students, supervised by a teacher, study English and Modern Languages there, enjoying the beauty and the atmosphere of this unique place.

We have a book club run by Mr Wade on Wednesdays, and a number of volunteers looking after the library after school twice a week.

New books are constantly being purchased, often requested by the students. Our collections span across a variety of genres: from the most recent YA novels to classics and the latest Booker Prizes, from the most sophisticated graphic novels to contemporary poetry.

The potential of our new library is enormous. We are constantly involving GCSE and A-level students for new ideas and initiatives, and we are so excited to see the impact of this wonderful space grow every day. (See photos on the next page).